


Secret of the Pastelmeos:The Lost Memories

by checkmateconservatives



Category: Warriors
Genre: Cats, Fantasy, Gen, Inspired, mine, original - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:09:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25671850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/checkmateconservatives/pseuds/checkmateconservatives





	Secret of the Pastelmeos:The Lost Memories

Secret of the Pastelmeos: The Lost Memories

~By Me

Chapter 1 

When Sunwing was a kitten, everything was fine. The cats adored her because she was a kitten of course but as she grew up, cats started to avoid her. When she was two, she asked her mother,  
“Why doesn’t anyone like me?” Starswirl sighed and then meowed,  
“Listen, some cats think that cats who are different should be avoided. You, my friend, are very different from them, but they are, in truth, afraid of you.”  
“Oh,” said Sunwing. “You could’ve just mentioned that in the first sentence.” Starswirl dropped her off at her preschool. She saw all of the other young cats wrestling and practicing hunting for prey. Sunwing was reading a learning textbook. Hesitantly she asked,  
“Can I hunt ,too?” to the hunting team.  
“No way!” said Firesplash, Scartail, Dreamteller, and Waverun simultaneously.  
“Can I wrestle?” she slowly asked the group that was wrestling.  
“Nuh-uh, you idiot!” said Dewdrop, Dewhop, and Moondance. The teacher, Sparkfire, was just sitting there looking at her lesson plan. She sighed.  
“I know how she feels. I hate being alone! I am going to tell that teacher to get out on that hunting ground and tell everyone to play with Sunwing!”

Chapter 2  
The classroom was silent and tense as Sunwing padded in. She saw the teacher eyeing her, and felt uncomfortable. She sat down on one of the small, hard seats and gave her chest fur a few embarrassed licks.  
“Alright, class is starting. Let’s give everyone their classroom numbers.” Sparkfire suddenly announced. Sunwing secretly hoped for eight, as it was her lucky number, but she got thirteen.  
“Ugh, why does Sunwing have to be in our class?” asked Shadewing. Two spots of color arose on Sunwing’s cheeks as she ducked her head down in humiliation. Then she noticed Firesplash staring at her. She looked away quickly, but she saw something in his eyes. Guilt? Regret? She had no time to think about it as class was starting.  
“Your schedule is simple. You have math, science, and then social studies. You will also take art, media, and English. Finally, you will do hunting training.” Sparkfire purred. “It will be fun!”. Uncertainty washed through Sunwing’s body as she heard how long her day would be. She was going to be miserable and disrespected at her new school.

Chapter 3

Soon, at lunch, Sunwing plopped down at a seat on the benches outside near the smart kits. She was tired of being put down by her classmates, but her table was peaceful. One bite into her lunch though, and her quiet was disturbed by a greeting from a cat she located in front of her.  
“Huh?” she exclaimed as she jumped up into the air in surprise. As he stepped closer to her, she noticed Firesplash shyly sitting on the bench.  
“Sorry if I bothered you, but Thistlestrike wants to see you.” he said quietly. Oh no, Thistlestrike? He was the principal of the whole school. She quickly sped over to his office, and was ambushed by Dewdrop and Scartail.  
“Well, well, Lookie here. it’s Sunwing! they meowed, a poisonous look in their eyes. “How about we do something to rid this school of garbage, like you?” Dewdrop loomed over her. “I-I’m trying to go to Bramblestrike’s office.” Sunwing stammered.  
“Ooh, she must be in trouble!” they purred loudly. She trembled by the door. Then, a flash of orange flew past her vision as she saw Scartail pinned down.  
“Firesplash?”, she said. He mewed in surprise.  
“Meh.” Dewdrop flung him into the pile of recycling.  
“Now, to deal with you.” they said in unison, coming toward her. They flipped Sunwing onto her back, though she protested. They bashed her head against a wall, and she heard an agitated hiss. The last thing she remembered was Firesplash, covered in paper, running into Dewdrop at full speed.

Chapter 4

Sunwing woke up startled, in a strange bed. She sniffed it, and it smelled musty. The room was very clean and no one was talking.  
“Where am I?” she meowed, confused. She looked around and saw a familiar orange-yellow cat, but couldn’t remember how she knew him nor what his name was. I know that I know him but how? She thought. Then as the strange cat slowly walked in, their cheeks flushed with color. Hmm… does he like me? Nah, she thought, as she noticed a bit of his shyness. As he padded down the tile, she felt a pain in her left shoulder. She yelped in pain and jumped. The strange cat jolted back, then slowly walked forward and fell onto the strange bed.  
“Are you okay?” the flame colored cat asked. I should just say I’m fine to get it over with, she thought. But she forced herself to admit it.  
“I don’t remember much, but some things seem familiar, and my shoulder really hurts .” she mewed quietly. The orange cat hesitated. Then he said,  
“What types of things do you remember?” She hesitated, then meowed,  
“Nothing.” He hesitated, then asked,  
“Are you sure about that?”  
“Your name is Firesplash. That’s all I remember.” Sunwing replied.

Chapter 5

Sunwing felt strange as she stepped out of the hospital with Firesplash at her side. She didn’t know what exactly had been happening. She knew her name, age, and that she didn’t have any friends but Firesplash, but she didn’t remember what her house or her school looked like. She did know however, that she never wanted to see Dewdrop or Scartail again. She also felt something else,....Love?!? The next day… Firesplash and Sunwing were hunting on the way to school. Firesplash seemed especially jumpy today. He was bouncing around the whole time as he walked.  
“Hey, did you know that I caught ten rabbits in five days once?” “Hey, did you know that we can go almost two whole weeks without food?” “Hey, did you know that bluefin tuna, a fish that we eat, is going extinct?” He just keeps talking, thought Sunwing. Even though I didn't know him very well, I don’t think he’s ever talked this much. It’s like I have some sort of bond, or connection with him. I think he feels weird or guilty because he thinks he could have protected me from them. Now I have something weird with my memory, and doctors said they can’t really do much about it. I think it’s called… amnesia.

Chapter 6

Thistlestrike frowned. He looked like he knew that there would be parents yelling at him about liabilities and suing him with their lawyers and all that talk. He must be so worried. Poor Thistlestrike, thought Sunwing. She went out into the yard to play with her new friend Firesplash but she was confronted by someone she neither expected nor wanted… Dewdrop. She looked around frantically. She definitely couldn’t hide in someone’s fish bag. There were no trees around, either.  
“Hey, I’m sorry that I acted mean to you two weeks ago. I definitely shouldn’t have hit your head against the wall,” she said honestly.  
“But why are you being nice to me?,” asked Sunwing, confused.  
“Well, see, I found out that being a bully wasn’t a good thing to do. The hard way. About six months ago, a kit named Moonswing smacked my head into a rock. I woke up two weeks later from a coma and I had amnesia, much worse than yours. I had it so bad that I couldn’t even remember my name,” she said.  
“So is Scartail also nice now?,” she asked.  
“Oh, when I told him that story he turned his mind right around and said that from now on he’s going to be nice. Or at least try to,” she purred. Then, Sunwing whirled around and saw Firesplash sitting on the bench, glaring at her.  
“I’ve got to go,” she said. She was about to walk towards him when the lunch patroler named Greentree blew her whistle, she rushed to meet him in class, but then she remembered: Firesplash wasn’t in any of her classes for the rest of the day.

Chapter 7

Her day seemed normal so far. She’d gotten out of her bed, eaten her Mintbites, and put her snack (tuna)in her backpack. Her mom drove her up to the newly-designated Meeting Place where she normally met up with Firesplash to walk to school but today, he was nowhere to be seen. She looked by the two tall evergreens and behind the large green rock they had dubbed “Turtle” after its shell-like pattern. Maybe Firesplash was angry at her for talking with the bully and not playing or talking with him all recess. But that could be explained. They’d make up quickly just like they’d done for the fight about fish, the argument about the world, and the thoughts about good and evil and what was right and wrong.  
It would be fine but there was a tiny nagging voice inside that was telling her”No. just ignore Firesplash. All he is is trouble. He couldn’t save you from the bullies and after all, you’ll make new friends. Better ones but only if you listen to me.” That was her “bad side.” She tried to block it out and concentrate on what she’d say to Firesplash when she got to school. She practiced it over and over again on the way she was going to say it. This is what she thought of saying: “I’m sorry, Firesplash. I found out that both Leafdrop and Icetail are now good cats from Leafdrop. I didn’t mean to talk to her the whole recess. Will you please accept my apology?”

Chapter 8

In Cat History class, Sunwing saw her chance. She took it. She was about to whisper into Firesplash’s ear the apology when… “No! No! You’ve got it all wrong! He’s a foe, not a friend!” . It was the voice again. She stopped in her tracks. All of this thinking was making her head hurt. She placed her paws under her ears. Uh-oh, she thought. Firesplash had seen her with her paws on her head. He looked worried. She tried to make a dash for the door but the leader for this class, Dreamwalker, noticed her wild speed and blocked the exit.  
“Where are you going?”  
“Yeah, where are you going?” asked Scartail.  
“Huh!” said Mountainstream.  
“I was wondering the same thing.” another voice mentioned.  
“Yeah!” “Me too!” chimed in the rest of the class. It was too much.  
Sunwing fled the room, wailing. She dashed down the hallway, and hid in the extra locker, which was open. She didn’t close the door as she did not want to be locked in there. She then closed her eyes and started crying. Her sobs echoed throughout the hall. She then stopped when she heard pawsteps coming closer. She tried to blend in with the extra supplies but it was no use.  
“Sunwing, why are you hiding in a locker and-crying?” She was doomed. It was Firesplash, his blue eyes reflecting curiosity.  
“You don’t want to know.” she mewed. He stared at her for a second, then looked away and asked,  
“Does your head hurt?” “It's okay if it does.” Sunwing gushed out the truth.  
“I’m so sorry! I really needed you to know how I wanted to apologize for how you were mad at me and I really didn't mean to upset you and… Firesplash replied, “But I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you what was really bothering me.” he pointed his tail to the small red crystal anklet on Sunwing’s tail that almost matched his, except his crystals were green. “I am one of the kittens whose mother was blessed by a white fairy, except she didn’t ask for wings.”

Chapter 9

Astonished, Sunwing padded out of the large locker and searched for anyone else. There was no one, so it was safe. She pulled Firesplash into the storage closet and shut the door. “What would that gift be?” she questioned.  
“I can tell the future through emotions.” said Firesplash. “I would never had known to try to help you when Scartail and Dewdrop attacked you.” “I knew that I would feel angry and protective soon.”  
“I want to find the white fairy.” said Sunwing. “I want to ask her where the magic is, and where it all came from!”  
“But how should we do that and if we do, how should we ask her?” he asked. Wait, will it be safe? Where does she even live? Should we look this up on Kittipedia or something? said the curious voice inside her. We shouldn’t question her. It isn’t polite. said the kind voice inside her. You should do anything, anything to get the answers out of her! said the evil voice inside her.  
“Umm… uh… er...” she sputtered. “What’s the matter? Rat got your tongue?” asked a voice. She slapped herself in the nose. Why couldn’t she just be useful and make a decision! Then, Firesplash looked at her worriedly.  
“Why did you just hit your nose?” he meowed.  
“Wait , what would my power be?” Sunwing mewed to distract him. Firesplash suddenly tensed, and then meowed,  
“I would have no clue, but you are going to be…surprised in the future?” Suddenly, they heard,  
“Come to my cave. You will find some...important information there,” they recognized the voice of the white fairy.What would that mean? Sunwing thought. Let’s find out… 

Chapter 10  
The sounds of Sunwing and Firesplash’s pawsteps echoed throughout the small, cramped cave as they both padded to the giant glowing crystal in the center. Sunwing asked,”What are we doing here?”  
The white fairy answered,”Little kitten, we are finding out where your strange powers and wings came from.” Sunwing bristled with indignity.  
“I am not a kit anymore! And what are my powers?”  
“You are about to find out.” said the fairy mysteriously. They reached the crystal.  
“Put your paw on the crystal.” she instructed. “Then think about the power that you really want to have.” I want the power to start my whole life over, and be a normal kitten with no anklet, wings, or powers, and have the power to start bullies’ lives over, too. she thought. “Close your eyes, and in one year you will know what your power is.” the white fairy instructed.  
“In one year! I can’t wait that long! I need to know now ! What if this quest thing turns dangerous and it becomes a matter of life and death?”  
“Calm down, calm down.” said the white fairy. “In about five days, during your quest you will discover a rare and ancient power not yet known to the Pastelmeos kind.”  
“Do you know what kind of power?” Sunwing pressed, wanting more information.  
“I am very sorry, but I can not tell you that.” said the white fairy.  
“Pleeeeeease?” I’ll give you ten cans of tuna fish!” she said.  
“I do not need anything, thank you.” said the white fairy. “But I can give you a hint. Your power will have something to do with changing.” 

Chapter 11

Firesplash asked,” Is my power the ability to tell the future through emotions?”  
“Yes, how did you figure that out?” asked the white fairy.  
“We were having art with Patron Catleap when I felt angry for no reason at all. Two hours later, I was angry because Mom was 20 minutes late picking me up from school !” The white fairy suddenly tensed.  
“You are correct.” she said.  
“Wait-what is his power again?”, asked Sunwing.  
“Do you still have amnesia?”, asked the white fairy. “You got bashed into a wall eight days ago!”  
“Well, I still don’t remember some things.” she admitted. I don’t remember my Mom or Dad’s names or my favorite color. I do know the names of everyone else that I know, however. Firesplash is my- she hesitated-best friend, Mom is a pale pink tabby with light red paws, Dad is a tortoiseshell with corn-yellow fur and a lavender tail, and Dewdrop and Scartail used to be bullies, but they’ve apologized.  
“Very good!”, said Esmeralda, impressed. “Now, show me your power or else I will kill you!”Sunwing gulped. She thought about her Art class and how Patron Treefly had told her class that when clay goes into the kiln, it becomes hard like a rock. She suddenly knew that her power was the ability to transform. She squeezed her eyes shut and imagined Esmerelda becoming a bug, being a bug. Her genetic code. How do I change that? she wondered. I’m not exactly a geneticist. She imagined Esmerelda’s genetic code becoming the shape of a bug. She opened her eyes and-yes!-Esmeralda was a bug.  
“Don’t kill me!” she said. Sunwing quickly changed her back to her fairy form.  
“Now what?” asked Firesplash. “We basically completed our quest.  
”Not yet!” said Sunwing. “We still need to go up against some things and then save the world. ”But what will those things be?” asked Firesplash.  
“I don’t know.” she admitted. “I just don’t know.”

Chapter 12  
Suddenly, a mint green cat with mysterious-looking sky blue swirls appeared. He said,  
” If there are live ones, turn them into dead kitties.” There were live cats there, obviously, but no one turned into a dead kitty.  
“What kind of rhyme was that?” asked Firesplash. The cat, Livemagic, stepped closer to them. Firesplash and Sunwing instinctively huddled together.  
“Will you hurt us?” asked Sunwing, nervous.  
“You said a rhyme to try to turn us into dead kitties” said Firesplash. “No, no.” said the old cat, chuckling. “I merely meant to turn any evil ones into dead kitties.” he said. “You didn’t turn into dead kitties because that was not what I intended to do.” Livemagic said.  
“I was cursed by my mother when I was a kit to prevent me from harming her.” “You see, she thought that since I disagreed with her on everything, I’d gladly harm her if I could do spells correctly.” “She was wrong. I would never do that, of course.” “My curse is to say at least one word in a spell backwards or have it backfire no matter what spell I do.” Here, I’ll try to put a Shield Charm on this ladybug here, and he gestures to a red ladybug sitting on the floor a few feet away from them. “Put a shield on this ladybug, and she will not need any defenses to lug!” The ladybug looked the same. “You see?” he said sadly. “I’ll never be able to break the curse-unless I find the Libro Magia Antiquis Pastelmeos-Book of Ancient Pastelmeos Magic.”  
We should help him. But what if it’s a trap? He seems nice.  
“We’ll help you find it,” said Sunwing ,shyly.  
“Do you know where it is?”, asked Firesplash. “Apparently it is in Rome, but Rome is a big place.” “There are about 3 million cats, and about 500 sq mi of space.” said Firesplash. “Are there any museums in Rome?”, asked Firesplash.  
“Yes, there is the Ancient Library, the New World Library, and the Library of the National Academy of Science.”  
“But what if we can’t find the book in any of the libraries?” asked Firesplash.  
“My mother said that it was in one of those libraries, and she hid some clues because she felt bad about hiding the book.”  
“Okay then-let’s go!”  
“We’d better hurry.” said Livemagic, looking at his watch. “If we want to take a plane before we run out of time, we have 10 hours to book a flight-and go there!” We can only go from July 1st to 5th, and we have less than 10 hours from now to get there, otherwise a bomb planted in the library will explode if we don’t find it in time!”  
“Relax,” said Sunwing. “Oh, look, there’s a flight that’s 8 hours and 15 minutes away!” said Sunwing.  
“Quick, let’s book it!” said Firesplash. They booked it. When they went on the flight, Livemagic catnapped the whole time, Firesplash sang loud songs that made their ears hurt(only problem was, he couldn’t sing), and Sunwing kept yelling stuff like,”I’m bored!” and “When will we get there?” When they got to the airport, it was crowded and busy. They found an escalator that went to their shuttle bus so they could get to their hotel. When they got there, Firesplash fell onto the bed and said  
” I’m so tired!” “Why can’t we look for the book tomorrow?”  
“Oh, come on!” said Livemagic, exasperated. “I’m not wasting 8,860 mice on this for nothing!” They drove their rental car to the Featherspin Wavepaw Library. That didn’t open till nine, and at that time, the bomb would explode. Then, they went to the Vatican Library. That didn’t open till ten. Finally, they went to the Library of the National Academy of Science. That one was open. They all stepped into the building when the bomb went off. It exploded, and Livemagic disappeared.  
“Sunwing!” Firesplash yelled when he realized that she was trapped in the rubble. He dug through frantically and found her, and they ran outside.  
Suddenly, a large firefighter appeared. He turned his hose on them, and they glared at him, knowing that he was Livemagic transformed and that he had lied to them. I will become a hose, be a hose, and turn myself on him. My DNA is a hose shape, I am a hose. Sunwing transformed into a hose. She turned on him. Livemagic dropped his hose screaming,”Heeeeelp!”and ran away. Sunwing turned to Firesplash and said,  
”Well, that’s one evil betraying lying magician bomb setting cat checked off my list.” “But here’s the thing,”said Firesplash. “Who knows what countless, dangerous obstacles lie ahead?” 

Chapter 13  
Sunwing said “I feel like Rome is still a pretty nice place”.  
“Sunwing -have you read the old prophecy?”said Firesplash.  
“No,” said Sunwing.  
“The old prophecy says that dogs used to roam this area.”said Firesplash, trepidation in his voice. Sunwing felt a wave of emotion. She asked Firesplash,  
”Are you afraid that something will happen to me?” He was. “ Something scary is about to happen!”said Sunwing.  
They saw dark shadows running and barking. They were dogs! Sunwing suddenly turned into a bear. The dogs barked at her and she growled. The dogs ran after her and she turned into a bird and flew into the dogs, then she turned back into a cat and hissed at them to never return. Then badcats came and were running after them. They must have been in cahoots with the dogs! Sunwing attacked the badcats in the form of a dog and barked at them until they all ran away.  
“The prophecy said something about badcats and dogs attacking us. The prophecy also says something about these two cats saving the day and being heroes. That must be us.” said Sunwing. “The prophecy says that we are in mortal danger and have to get out of Rome before it’s too late.”

Chapter 14  
“Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!”said Firesplash. “The Rome Airport is 33 minutes away, and our flight is in two minutes!”  
“When did you remember this?”, asked Sunwing.  
“Just now!”said Firesplash.  
“Well, unless you have a jet plane or something, there’s no way we can get there in time!”shouted Sunwing.  
“Now what are we going to do?”asked Sunwing, her panic rising.  
“ I hear Rome has a lot of crime and maybe we can stop it.” said Firesplash.  
“Yeah, but first of all, don’t you wait for crime to come to you, and second of all, my Mom and Dad, as well as your Mom and Dad must be really worried.” said Sunwing.  
“Yeah-but-hey-don't you think that it’s a little weird that the prophecy said that we’ll be in mortal danger and we’ve missed our flight and now we’re fighting?” “Don’t you feel like this is a series of bad luck and it’s all leading up to some terrible grand finale?”said Firesplash.  
“I don’t want to know what that grand finale is”, said Sunwing, shivering.

Chapter 15  
Maybe we should take a tour of Rome, and see Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel, and the Colosseum thought Sunwing. As she was thinking this, a bird pooped on her head. Dang it! More bad luck.  
” I’ve been looking at the flights on my iPad and there are no more seats left. On any flight from Rome to Pastelcat,even the ridiculously expensive ones.”said Firesplash.  
“Great.” grumbled Sunwing. “With our luck, there’ll be no tours around Rome either.” They decided to use the computers at the Featherspin Wavepaw library but unfortunately it was closed because of stormy weather.  
“Great.” grumbled Firesplash. “The one day we actually needed to use the library, it’s closed.” What are the odds of that?”  
“Look on the bright side.”said Sunwing. “At least we can jump in the puddles.” “True, but we need to get home. Remember the prophecy?”asked Firesplash. He looked up at her, wide-eyed and innocent.  
“Okay, fine.” said Sunwing. “But first, we might need to steal a jet.”  
Chapter 16  
“Well, we could do that, but first, we’ll need flying lessons,” said Firesplash.  
“Okay, I’ll Google it.” said Sunwing. “Wow, Aviomar training lessons have a flight simulator that makes you feel like you’re really flying!”  
“Well, how do you know that that’s a trusted site?”, asked Firesplash. “Plus, what if we’re too young?”  
“Relax. Don’t be a scaredy-rat. We’re definitely not too young to go into a flight simulator.” Sunwing assured.  
“Let’s play cat-mouse-dog to decide.” said Firesplash.They had to go through ten rounds of cat-mouse-dog before Sunwing declared herself the winner.  
“Yay!” she said. She started doing a dance.  
“Sunwing, you don’t want to be embarrassed, do you?”asked Firesplash.  
“Oh. Right.''said Sunwing, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. “Okay, let’s get to the company,”said Sunwing.  
“But-how are we going to get there?” asked Firesplash.  
“Well-we do have a car”, said Sunwing, mischievously.  
They got into Livemagic’s car, a Toyota.  
“Um-Sunwing-what if we get caught?”asked Firesplash nervously.“Neither of us have a driver’s license and we are both underage.”  
“I have some fake licenses for us.”said Sunwing. “We will take turns driving and figuring out where to go.” “While I drive, you navigate, and while you drive, I’ll navigate.” “Sunwing-I-” said Firesplash.  
Firesplash said“Okay, I’m looking on Google Maps for the directions and”-he suddenly stopped. “No. No. No. No.” Sunwing looked up-and found a policecat right outside the car, glaring at them as if he was about to kill them.  
Chapter 17  
Why is he here? Does he know that’ our licenses are fake? “Sorry to bother you, but is your speedometer working?” asked Policecat Flypaw. “I’ve had to tell a lot of people to go to Airtool’s Auto Repair because even though their speedometer said fifty-five, they were doing ninety for some bizarre reason.”  
Firesplash checked the speedometer. “It’s pitch-perfect, Policecat- he read his name tag- Flypaw.” The policecat checked and it was pitch-perfect, just like Firesplash had said. After he left, Sunwing said,”Whew!” That was close! Too close!” Firesplash said“Okay, Google Maps says that it’s 14 minutes away, and that means we’ll both do seven minutes. “Here’s my iPad for you to look at details.” Sunwing looked, and they flipped a mouse to see who should drive first. Sunwing won, which Firesplash was secretly glad about. He wouldn’t have wanted to drive first anyway, and he had only agreed to do the mouse toss because Sunwing said that she would give him five cans of tuna when he got home. 

They went to the lessons. During all of the lessons, Sunwing paid careful attention and tried her very best. Firesplash, however, just pushed the buttons because he thought they were fun to play with and ended up destroying his flight simulator [and his real plane] many times. The lessons went something like this: The teacher[Hornswallow] said to them to take out their notebooks and write a Flying Tip that she put on an old fashioned blackboard. Then, she told each of them to go into the simulator and do what she said with it. They had a snack break in the middle of it. 

After the break, they practiced with the simulator on their own. [Both in the Instructed Simulator Time and the Solo Simulator Time, Firesplash fooled around with the buttons.] At the end of each lesson, they were each given a slip of paper with a different tip on handling emergencies to glue into their notebooks. But of course, Firesplash never did. He just recycled the tip when Aviocat Hornswallow wasn’t looking. When they were done with their training, they decided to steal the jet. Of course, they had to have a plan, their wits, and a backup plan first.  
Chapter 18  
“Maybe we should sneak around the back and take the jet when Aviomar is closed.”  
“But won’t the hangar be locked?” asked Firesplash. “Plus, what if there’s guards?”  
“Oh,” said Sunwing. “I’m pretty sure there won’t be guards. After all, we’re not robbing a bank.” “But we can buy an ax, destroy the hangar door, and start rolling the jet off the runway and fly it home using GPS, which should be on that jet.”  
“Yeah-but that’s illegal, and if we get caught we probably go to prison.” said Firesplash.  
“We’re going to find a hardware store, and that’s final,” said Sunwing, sounding like a mother who had just won an argument with her child.  
“Hey, look, Hardware Effect is only eighteen minutes away!” Firesplash exclaimed. “Let’s look on their site to see if they sell axes!”  
“Good news!” said Sunwing. “They do!”  
He drove to the hardware store and they walked out of the car. In the hardware store, they bought the ax. They carried out their plan and all went well. But as they rolled the jet out of the hangar, a policecat came and started yelling at them. Firesplash said,”La la la, can’t hear you!” and they took off into the sky. They were flying the jet nicely, and Sunwing got tired and decided to take a break. She told Firesplash to fly the jet while she was relaxing. He flew it well until he realized he didn’t know how to maneuver it through a storm. He realized that there might be thunderstorms and panicked, and he lost control of the flyer. They flew in circles, and the jet crashed violently onto a deserted island. 

There was smoke coming out of the jet , and Firesplash couldn’t find Sunwing. He finally found her, and they looked around.  
“We’re probably on a Pacific island, but for all I know, you could’ve made a wrong turn and we’re on Tuvalu.” “My iPad isn’t working!” Firesplash complained. “But through the static I hear-voices.” “And-pawsteps.” “Heavy pawsteps.” “Now I hear a cat yelling and another cat attacking him.” “And now I hear-someone hypnotizing another cat.” They walked to the edge of the island.  
“Firesplash-don’t you think there’s a fight going on?” asked Sunwing. “And what are those heavy pawsteps?” “ I don't know Sunwing” said Firesplash. “It seems to be coming from the north. Chapter 19  
There was a low hissing sound coming from behind them. They turned simultaneously, and saw a huge helicopter doing a nosedive directly overhead. Sunwing and Firesplash turned and ran so that the helicopter would not crash into them. Miraculously, it made a perfect landing. Sunwing and Firesplash decided to step inside. When they got into the helicopter they heard a voice that said,  
“Hello Sunwing and Firesplash, I’ve been expecting you ”. Oddly enough there was no one in the flyer. Sunwing and Firesplash took their seats and headed off to a nine hour journey in the copter to Pastelcat. The flight was rather smooth until it did a nosedive at the end causing Firesplash to wake up from his peaceful nap. The plane came to a stop and Sunwing and Firesplash breathed in the cool, crisp air. They were in Pastelcat! Firesplash ran to Tuna Street, and Sunwing ran to Hunt Lane.  
“Mom!” “Dad!” Firesplash repeated her words and ran to his own parents. Their parents hurried them inside the cat house.  
“Wait!”Sunwing and Firesplash exclaimed simultaneously. “What’s wrong?” Starswirl(Sunwing’s mom) sighed.  
“There’s a cat fight going on.” Treebark(Firesplash’s dad) explained,  
“The normal cats are fighting every cat for themselves , the magical cats are also fighting every cat for themselves, and giant cats are coming and taking advantage of everything by destroying our beautiful Pastel.”  
Chapter 20  
“So-what should we do?” asked Sunwing, tense with all the things that had happened recently.  
“Logically, we should stay at home for a few hours and formulate a strategy first.” “But, we might not have much time, so we could just charge into battle.” Firesplash mused.  
Starswirl sighed. “Unless you let us fight with you, you’re staying home. And that’s final.”  
Treebark interjected,”Uh, Firesplash is my kid. He fights with only the non-magical cats, unless he agrees for us to band together and fight the giant cats.”  
“Fine.” everyone mewed, reluctantly.  
“So, what’s your decision, Firesplash?” Sunwing asked, eager to fight and demonstrate her magical powers. Firesplash started panting, nervous and out of breath with the decision he had to make.  
“Yeah, uh, and you kinda need to decide soon.” Treebark glanced out the window, where hordes of cats were gathered, each holding up a different sign.  
Firesplash breathed in and out, in and out as many cats had told him to do before. He swallowed, and said,”I choose not to fight.” “It’s the logical decision, after all.”  
Everyone in the small, dark room stared at him. “But”-Sunwing said. Firesplash turned and padded up to his room. A tense feeling came over the room. Sunwing broke the silence,“So, what sign should we make?”  
Chapter 21  
They played cat-mouse-dog and decided on the name Dreamers and Believers. In an unanimous vote, Treebark became leader of the team. Sunwing chose to be the cheerleader of the team. Starswirl was the medic. [Sunwing’s dad and Firesplash’s mom were on separate vacations.] “I’ll paint the sign!” Sunwing said eagerly, getting out a set of paints and a paintbrush. She wrote the team name on the sign in all capitals, like this:  
DREAMERS AND BELIEVERS  
“I’ll need medical supplies.” Starswirl said, noticing the dearth of bandages, gauze, and aspirin in the cabinet. “And I’ll need some weapons, hopefully mostly harmless stuff like water balloons and Nerf guns.” Treebark added. “Well, we all need some team spirit.” Sunwing said eagerly. She ran outside, excitedly tripping through the crowd of angry cats, determined to get to the store to get pompoms and a loudspeaker.  
Sunwing arrived at the store, panting. It was just a normal general store, but there was a full-on rampage going on in there. Cats were digging through racks of supplies, throwing goldfish and batteries everywhere. One cat, who Sunwing recognized as Scartail, was thrown to the side by an older, angry cat trying to get to the bandages. “Scartail! Are you okay?!” Sunwing exclaimed. “Yes, I’m-wait a minute, you’re not on my team!” Scartail ran away huffing angrily. Oh no, Scartail won’t even accept help from me because I’m not on his team? We must be really divided.  
Meanwhile, Starswirl was at the pharmacy. She went to pay for her supplies that she had barely salvaged out of the mess that was on the floor, ironically of cats fighting to the death over life-saving supplies. But there was no pharmacist. Starswirl looked down, and saw the pharmacist, unconscious probably because of some cat who had knocked him to the ground. She wondered what team the pharmacist was on, if he even had a team. It didn’t matter. She found a lump on his head, and looked in the freezer which contained various health foods, then scooped out some ice with a spoon she had found in the kitchen. She gently placed the ice on his head, put the bills on the counter, and rushed home.  
Treebark went to the toy store. Luckily for him, most cats hadn’t thought of getting weapons. Hopefully they didn’t have any actual weapons. Treebark looked around for a Nerf gun, or water balloons, or something, anything, that he could defend his team with. He found nothing. All of the possible weapons had been taken by the other teams. I should have gotten there earlier, he thought bitterly. I can’t believe I didn’t think of coming earlier. Now how will we survive, without weapons to defend ourselves with? Treebark looked outside, and gasped. It was silent. No birds chirped. No familiar sounds of cats walking along the road, or someone more traditional trying to catch food. Instead, he heard ragged breaths, and moans of pain. He saw cats lying on the ground:dead or unconscious? He didn’t know. All he knew is that there was no chance of his team surviving, and he had to go home before it was too late. He had to go home before his son’s friend and her mom were put in danger.  
Chapter 22  
Treebark ran home at full speed-and crashed into Starswirl.  
“Ouch!” he mewed.  
“Sorry.” Starswirl said. “Did you get us weapons-anything to defend ourselves with?”  
“No, I’m so sorry.” Treebark glanced at her bag to see if she had any medical supplies. He noticed bandages, gauze and aspirin-just what she had said she would get. He felt more and more like a failure. “Wait a minute-where’s Sunwing?!” he exclaimed.  
“I-wait, where is she?”  
“Let’s split up and look for her,” Treebark suggested.  
“No, I don’t want either of us to get lost-where would our team be then?”  
They decided to check the general store, which they thought should have the things Sunwing was planning to get. There she was, curled up frozen in the middle of the room. All of a sudden she shapeshifted into a tree. A rock. A bug. It was like she was a computer, glitching out and malfunctioning. “Sunwing?” “Are you okay?” “What’s wrong with your powers?” Her mom stepped hesitantly toward her. But Sunwing couldn’t talk. She kept glitching. Suddenly, Starswirl remembered Firesplash’s nervousness and hesitation earlier. Maybe he had predicted Sunwing’s fear! But what was Sunwing afraid of? Treebark had come to the same conclusion. Then, he and Starswirl both realized something else-there were cats all hissing and spitting at her, and in the group, was Scartail, Sunwing’s former bully.  
Starswirl shouted,”Sunwing! “Come over here!” “Please.” But Sunwing stayed frozen. Then Scartail lashed out. Sunwing finally shapeshifted-into a dog. She barked at Scartail’s team, who all ran away. Then she bounded into her mother’s paws. Starswirl hugged her daughter and whispered,”I’m so sorry.” Treebark hunched over on his paws awkwardly in the corner of the store.  
They all ran quickly and quietly, Sunwing whisper-cheering them on while Treebark showed them the route on a map he had quickly printed out at home before his Internet had ran out. Someone had cut the cell phone lines, probably accidentally while fighting.  
When they got home, Sunwing decided to call for Firesplash. She walked up the stairs to his room. She scratched at the door once, twice, three times. “Firesplash?” “Are you still in there?” No response. Sunwing assumed he was sleeping. Then Firesplash walked out of his room. “Oh, Sunwing. Did you and your “team” get supplies?” Sunwing winced at his sarcasm. “Well, my mom got medical supplies, but I was attacked when I tried to get supplies and-it’s a long story. The point is, we’re not going to fight. Please understand that we’re going to go back to our normal lives, or as normal as they can be.”  
He said,“Okay, that sounds awesome,” and this time, he wasn’t being sarcastic.


End file.
